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Transportation Challenge #2

Challenge Instructions

Give a boost to local efforts helping make VT transportation healthier, more convenient, and less expensive!

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Did you know that, on average, 25 percent of car trips are less than 1 mile and 40 percent are less than 2 miles? This little stat makes the option to walk or bike seem a little easier than we might think!

Get Started

Why?

Numbers matter when you're trying to really move the needle on transportation issues. Your personal choices might only seem like a drop in the bucket, but individual actions can amplify pretty quickly! After all, raindrops may be tiny, but they when they join up and flow together they can transform the landscape in powerful ways. This challenge is a way to make a meaningful mobility difference!

How?

Learn about out one of the initiatives in the Resources section. They're all free, have prizes, and are probably things you'd like to do anyway!

Pick one (or more!) and sign-up. Given the choices, there should be something for everyone.

In the box below, say which one(s) you picked, and why!

Alternative

Don't live in Vermont?

Don't fret! There's probably a program in your area that you could help move the needle on, including national versions of the some of the VT efforts above:

Give a boost to local efforts helping make VT transportation healthier, more convenient, and less expensive!

However I walk. I'm halfway between two small general stores, so rather than driving to Montpelier, I walk to one of the stores for basic food needs. I'm supporting local businesses, getting exercise and not using the car. On days I do drive I try to do everything at once.

All winter, long before this game began, I've been challenging myself to see how little I could drive, spend on gas and pollute. One week I managed to only drive once. Most weeks I had to drive twice, and a few weeks more than that. By trying to live as small as possible I'm conscious of finding ways to not use the car.

A few years ago I fought to be able to work from home and finally won the battle. I was able to cut my carbon footprint by 90%.

Being on the Calais Transportation Committee we are currently working on many fronts. Right now we carpool whenever possible, as in tonight I hitched a ride with neighbors. In addition we're looking at vanpools, the possibility of someday collectively buying an electric vehicle to share, the possibility of working with other towns to get a bus route on Rt. 14, etc. All these things take time...but we'll get there.

We've also been doing "hybrid travel" which is when you start walking somewhere and a neighbor who is also going there ends up giving you a ride for the last leg of the journey. Its great fun.

Pictured is the Adamant CoOp, one of the two general stores I walk to.